Ms Hyslop outlined the financial help while in Paisley to mark the merger of the town's university and Bell College.

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It had spread across college campuses because Bell Labs started giving away the UNIX source code.

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And in Santiago, Chile, short-term emergency action was taken in the 90s when there were extraordinary bursts of smog, says Nigel Bell, professor of environmental pollution at Imperial College London.

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After a childhood in Minnesota, he went east to Boston College, according to my January 27th interview with Bell.

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College principal Dr Anne Heaslett and board member Doreen Bell appeared before the committee to explain the case for the proposed merger.

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But studies of these programmes offer only lukewarm support, according to David Bell of the University of Stirling and David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College.

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Ms Bell said she thought Mr Costello was referring to the long-term future of the college.

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